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SnowTroll · 08-20-2012, 02:17 PM

That's really a key point. If they're not on your game's OOC channel, then they're talking off-game. At least if you have an in-game OOC channel, you can see and regulate some of the things people say and do (people who want to cheat the system will still communicate through off-game means), and you at least get some of that OOC chatter locally on people's screens so people can get a sense of community and know what their fellow players are like. When there's OOC chatter on a public channel, I'm somewhat included. I can join in. When I'm a newbie and everyone else is friends from irc and are chatting off-game, I'm left out and I'm not fully integrated as a part of the player community.

It's silly to think that if you have no visible OOC communications whatsoever that you're improving the game atmosphere and environment. You're just changing it, and some people may prefer it changed in that way, while some people don't. But really, you're just shifting the OOC from one place to another in a way that makes your little niche community a lot more isolating and uninviting to regular people. The hardcore super-immersive, ultra-intense RPI freak is a very, very small minority, and that type of intense player can ignore an OOC channel pretty easily and get just as immersed.

08-20-2012, 02:17 PM	#25
SnowTroll Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 183	Re: Dealing with OOC That's really a key point. If they're not on your game's OOC channel, then they're talking off-game. At least if you have an in-game OOC channel, you can see and regulate some of the things people say and do (people who want to cheat the system will still communicate through off-game means), and you at least get some of that OOC chatter locally on people's screens so people can get a sense of community and know what their fellow players are like. When there's OOC chatter on a public channel, I'm somewhat included. I can join in. When I'm a newbie and everyone else is friends from irc and are chatting off-game, I'm left out and I'm not fully integrated as a part of the player community. It's silly to think that if you have no visible OOC communications whatsoever that you're improving the game atmosphere and environment. You're just changing it, and some people may prefer it changed in that way, while some people don't. But really, you're just shifting the OOC from one place to another in a way that makes your little niche community a lot more isolating and uninviting to regular people. The hardcore super-immersive, ultra-intense RPI freak is a very, very small minority, and that type of intense player can ignore an OOC channel pretty easily and get just as immersed.